When looking for baby name inspiration, sometimes it’s nice to look back to decades past. Nameberry examined the most popular names of the 1970s and picked out a dozen that may be worth a revival.

Heather

Heather was the third most popular name in America in 1975, and now it’s down to 964. But it still retains its gentle Scottish feathery feel and we think it’s ready to rejoin all those other popular blooms out there. Two prominent Heathers: Heather Graham, who was born in 1970, and “Melrose Place” actress Heather Locklear.

Scott

Scott was number 17 for the whole ‘70s decade, even higher in some individual years. Scott Baio, aka Chachi, was a teen heartthrob of the era, first in “Happy Days” and then “Joanie Loves Chachi.” Of the many single-syllable ‘70s boy names, Scott still retains some substance and flair.

Candice

Candice Bergen was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1979 for “Starting Over.” Candice, also spelled Candace, is an ancient name, referenced in the New Testament. It also has a nice meaning: “pure and sincere.”

Billy

Billy Joel’s first album, “Piano Man,” was released in 1973. And since we’re all about reviving old nickname names ― especially for girls ― I nominate the friendly old standard Billy for consideration. A two-syllable name from the ‘20s to the ‘70s, it now ranks down in the 800s, given to only a few hundred babies last year. Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton named their son Billy Burton in 2003.

Roger

Number 61 in 1970, Roger is now placed just under 600, despite a pleasant association, meaning A-OK, and many notable namesakes. Roger Daltry was lead singer of The Who, one of the seminal rock bands of the ‘70s.

Farrah

Glamorous Farrah Fawcett, of “Charlie’s Angels” fame, was a trendsetter of the ‘70s, from hairstyles to names, bringing this spelling of the Arabic appellation meaning “happiness” up to Number 177 in 1977. Soft and evocative, Farrah/Farah could be ripe for a comeback.

Jill

Jill St. John was a 1970s Bond Girl named Tiffany in “Diamonds Are Forever,” and we’re thinking that cheery Jill might be ready to join Jack in climbing up the hill. Jill was also the name of Farrah Fawcett’s character on “Charlie’s Angels.”

Suzanne

Though Susannah is the preferred “Su” name right now, we think the simpler Susan and the more exotic Suzanne have a good chance of rising again. Suzanne Somers, in “Three’s Company,” was the poster girl for “jiggle TV” in the ‘70s.

Tina

Although she had many other roles, Tina Louise will always be remembered as Ginger in “Gilligan’s Island.” Another bearer, Tina Turner, born Anna Mae, was one of the hottest performers of the 1970s ― and now there’s Tina Fey, born in 1970, when the name was number 21. Although it has dropped off the list completely now, it’s easy to picture a twinkly little 2016 baby Tina. 

Tabitha

“Bewitched” began in the ‘60s, but cute little Tabitha was still nose-twitching into the ‘70s, when she got her own spinoff show. Now her New Testament name feels less dated. Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick chose Tabitha for one of their twin girls ― will this help bring it up from number 947?

Kurt

Kurt Vonnegut was a literary idol to many in the ‘70s, when some of his popular books, including Breakfast of Champions, were published. (Kurt Cobain and Nirvana would emerge later on). Just the kind of short, sharp name many of today’s parents of boys are searching for, Kurt ―  number 189 in the ‘70s and 961 today ― could be ripe for revival. Others in his crew: Kirk, Keith, Glenn, Craig, and Troy.

Claudia 

Moviegoers in the ‘70s loved their hot Italian sex symbols and Claudia Cardinale was third only to Sophia and Gina. Claudia was a Top 200 name in the ‘70s, sinking to 741 today. A straightforward but soft name with a hint of Roman splendor, Claudia is definitely ready for reappraisal.

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Garry Marshall is not often mentioned in the same breath as Hollywood’s most revered auteurs, but his legacy is just as impactful. His key contribution to popular culture: making people happy. That’s a talent that requires skill.

With a keen eye for casting and a comedian’s mind for pacing, Marshall ― who died Tuesday at age 81 ― is responsible for some of our most beloved fixtures. He wrote for “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and “The Lucy Show,” created “Happy Days” and “Laverne & Shirley,” and directed “Beaches,” “Pretty Woman,” “Runaway Bride,” “The Princess Diaries,” “Georgia Rule” and the gaudy ensembles “Valentine’s Day,” “New Year’s Eve” and “Mother’s Day.” His work is the feel-good fare that divides critics but wins audiences effortlessly. Never inundated by Hollywood’s sequel culture, Marshall could also claim to be one of the few remaining directors whose signature was original, star-driven studio comedies. That alone is worth celebrating.

With ample options, we are spotlighting a handful of scenes directed by or starring Marshall that exemplify his big- and small-screen contributions. Thanks for making us happy, Garry Marshall. 

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It would be cheap to say that we’re in the midst of a Winona Ryder renaissance. A glance at her IMDb page proves that, despite a hiatus after her shoplifting incident in the early 2000s, Ryder has not gone anywhere. Now 44, she’s just stuck in the limbo to which Hollywood subjects its female stars. Ryder isn’t the young, trendy ingenue on the market, and she’s only just now aging into so-called “mom” roles ― and even those, by her own account, are spotty: “I get sent a lot of scripts where you’re just the mom,” Ryder recently told The New York Times. “’C’mon, kids!’ And you think, could I do something with this? Is there a way to make this interesting? But in the end you think, no.”

At last, she’s landed herself a fine mom role in “Stranger Things,” the new Netflix miniseries about the search for a science-fiction-obsessed 12-year-old boy who mysteriously disappears. Set in 1980s Indiana, “Stranger Things” is what might happen if Steven Spielberg, Stephen King and John Carpenter had a TV baby. Ryder is dynamic, channeling a mother’s most primal instincts in her character’s quest to find her son. For someone who has often played outsiders, or characters sympathetic to outsiders, Ryder is right at home. Which reminds us: She has been at home in so many great movies over the years. Even in her lesser films, Ryder consistently turns in standout work. So here’s a handful of performances that you should revisit ― and, yes, some of your favorites, like “Beetlejuice” and “Reality Bites,” didn’t make the cut. They’re great too! But this, in our eyes, for now, is the ultimate Ryder catalog. 

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Readers can now look up the definition of manspreading on Dictionary.com. 

On Tuesday the online dictionary added over 300 new words and definitions to make sure the publication is keeping up with the times. Among the words is one of our all-time favorite love-to-hate terms: manspread.

The word, which is used to describe men who take up too much space on public transit (see here, here and here), has been a point of contention and national conversation over the past few years. Even the NYC Subway M.T.A., comedian Kristen Schaal and Helen Mirren have weighed in on the issue. 

Dictionary.com defined the verb as follows: “To sit with one’s legs far apart, taking up too much space on a seat shared with other people.” (Suggested addition: So, dudes, please stop it.) 

A few other additions to the online dictionary include “intersectionality,” “lumbersexual,” “misgender,” “woke” and “ghosting.”

“Mainstream cultural conversations give Dictionary.com’s lexicographers an endless supply of words to research,” the online dictionary wrote in a recent blog. 

Here’s to calling out manspreaders ― in a clearly defined way. 

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When foie gras fails and Dom Perignon leaves you desperate for more, there’s this doughnut.

Created by the Dum Dum Donutterie in London, the “Luxury Zebra Cro” is a croissant-doughnut hybrid with a twist.

Made with saffron-infused butter croissant dough, Cristal rosé champagne caviar, gold leaf, Tahitian gold vanilla beans and rare Amedei Porcelana chocolate, this doughnut costs £1,500 (roughly $1,974.55), which is basically a downpayment on a Ford Focus.

The “CRO” (they can’t call it an actual Cronut because that’s trademarked by Dominique Ansel) was created to celebrate the launch of the Just Eat Food Fest in London from July 22-24.

Not going to make the fest, but down to drop some dough on some dough? Snag a CRO from Just-Eat.co.uk over the weekend. 

If you’re like us and don’t have that much cash lying around, please enjoy this food porn of Dum Dum Donutterie’s less expensive fare:

We’re suddenly STARVING.

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Donald Trump must be so happy, he must feel so, so good ― because someone finally built him that great, beautiful wall he’s been talking about.

A scaled-down wall complete with American flags, tiny “Keep Out” signs and wee razor wire appeared Tuesday afternoon in Hollywood around Trump’s star on the Walk of Fame. 

Alas, Mexico did not pay for the wall; it was the creation of the Los Angeles street artist who goes by the tag Plastic Jesus. 

(See more photos of the wall below.)

The artist said he installed the project Tuesday afternoon, just hours before the wall-loving real estate mogul officially clinched the Republican presidential nomination. 

Since the beginning of his campaign, Trump has repeatedly called for a wall to be built on the southern U.S. border to block immigrants, and has insisted that he will get the Mexican government to pay for it.

Plastic Jesus, who requested his real name not be used, has targeted Trump before with his street art: Earlier this year, “No Trump Anytime” signs modeled after parking bans appeared in Chicago, New York, LA and Washington, D.C.

The artist has previously stated that he strives to make his installations ― which are always temporary ― ethical and with minimal damage to the urban environment.

In a cheeky touch, the mini wall is “vandalized” with the artist’s own signs, which read “Stop Making Stupid People Famous” and previously went viral.

“Since it’s my wall, I thought I’d put my own street art on it,” the artist said by phone Wednesday.  

Explaining his vision for the piece, Plastic Jesus said it’s straightforward and meant to be more of a criticism of the Trump phenomenon than the man himself. 

“I try and approach art in a way that won’t offend people too much,” he said, noting that previous targets of his work have not always been happy but have been game for the critique. “I just want to get them thinking about policy, and politics and news.” 

The blustering Republican presidential nominee has inspired plenty of artwork since he launched his bid last summer ― and little of it is flattering.

Plastic Jesus said he opted for a wall because it was “less obvious than doing a parody of his face or his lips or his hair.”

“I wanted to move things on with a different level,” he said. “I don’t try to attack people on a personal level. I try to attack their policy or their attitude. Otherwise it’s kind of vindictive.” 

“Personally, I’ve got nothing against Donald Trump,” he added. “I have everything against his policies and the culture he’s trying to create in America.” 

The artist hasn’t heard from the Trump campaign itself yet, though during the initial installation Tuesday plenty of onlookers snapped photos and left positive comments on social media. 

One message, he said, was from an officer patrolling Hollywood who didn’t condone vandalism, but found the wall “hilarious.” 

Thus far, Plastic Jesus’ biggest critic of the wall (which was temporarily removed Tuesday night and will be set up again Wednesday afternoon) was one of the street performers in character on Hollywood Boulevard. 

“Their Edward Scissorhands was getting really pissed,” Plastic Jesus said. “People were crowding around the wall and taking pictures and no one was really paying attention to him, so he started pushing it away with his feet.” 

Editor’s note: Donald Trump regularly incites political violence and is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist and birther who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims ― 1.6 billion members of an entire religion ― from entering the U.S.

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If you’re a hardcore Marilyn Monroe fan with $8,000 to kick around, you can now spend it on two locks of the iconic star’s hair.

So you can… look at it? Pet it? Frankly, we’re not really sure why anyone would pay big bucks for a stranger’s hair, even a stranger as amazing and legendary as Marilyn Monroe.

The hair will be up for auction via Los Angeles’ Julien’s Auctions in November, and they expect it to be sold for between $6,000 and $8,000, People reports. Other items, like Monroe’s movie costumes, letters and personal possessions will also be available.

Monroe’s locks were previously in the possession of Frieda Hull, a friend of the actress who died in 2014. Julien’s Auctions noted that Hull was originally a member of the “Monroe Six,” a group of hardcore fans who frequently followed and photographed the actress. 

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She loves to doodle, and he loves to take pictures. At a time when selfies are the quintessential vacation mementos, this couple found a different way to tell the world that they’re out and about.

For their Instagram project titled Doodledeux, the travelers created miniature caricatures, Abang and Neng, which they draw on paper and photograph at museums, beaches, street fairs, aquariums and other vacation spots.

“Doodle according to free dictionary means ‘to draw or sketch something aimlessly,’” the couple wrote on Instagram. “Deux in French means ‘two’ or it can also mean ‘about them.’ So doodledeux is our personal project where we share our story as a couple.”

The doodles range from images of the couple fighting over the last piece of almond chocolate cake at IKEA, flying in a hot air ballon in Indonesia, or taking cover under an umbrella in Singapore.

Scroll down for more of Abang and Neng’s adventures.

This piece originally appeared on HuffPost France and has been translated into English. 

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You’ve heard it before: Educated voting matters.

What that literally means is you should verse yourself on the issues ― and not just the scandals ― before heading to the booth. But Cleveland librarian Jonathan Harris took the idea a step further, showing up to the Republican National Convention with a bike bearing books, BuzzFeed reported.

He slung fiction and fantasy titles to everyone in attendance, including protesters. His goal? To raise awareness for library funding, which is so often ignored by those voting for lower taxes. “The Tea Party crowd can say they love libraries, but they need to put their tax dollars where their mouths are,” Harris said.

In a March 2016 statement, the American Library Association made its views on library funding clear; they strongly opposed sequester-forced cuts that’ve been made to library organizations nationwide. “Drastic, untargeted cuts in funding for libraries and education will badly undermine or delay programs that support, among many other things: student literacy, job training and searching, and communities already struggling to maintain critical core services,” the ALA writes.

Though far from radical, Harris’ altruistic campaign wasn’t the only creative form of protest at a 2016 RNC. In July in Cleveland, Ohio, 100 women posed nude to oppose the anti-woman language and platforms buzzing around this election cycle.

It’s no wonder social justice activists and librarians alike are opting for wordless forms of expression; the 2016 presidential race has proven that words can be insufficient, or worse, damaging.

[H/T BuzzFeed]

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Uganda may be one of the most unsafe places to be lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) in the world. But that isn’t stopping one group of activists from organizing a queer film festival in the African nation.

“Through film screenings, we intend to facilitate dialogue and open
channels for people outside the LGBTQI Community to understanding LGBT
people in Uganda,” Kamoga Hassa the organizer of The Queer Kampala International Film Festival told The Huffington Post. “Our primary goal is to increase awareness and tolerance of sexual identity through increased public exposure using films. Our second goal is to support courageous filmmakers who are passionate about sharing queer stories in an environment where LGBT people are criminalized.”

In 2014, the country passed an anti-homosexuality act. In the eyes of festival organizers, that makes this event all the more important.

“Our life is already in danger and keeping silent when we are suffering will not solve a thing,” Hassa said. “We are not demanding so much, all we want is to be treated with respect and get the same opportunities as everyone. It’s a risky struggle for freedom but, as it is, in a struggle always you have to be prepared for anything that may happen.”

Want to help make The Queer Kampala International Film Festival a reality? Head here.

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The decision to honor George Takei by portraying iconic “Star Trek” character Hikaru Sulu as a gay man in the latest big screen installment of the franchise was not received as enthusiastically as some may have expected. 

Possibly in hopes of putting Trekkies’ concerns to rest, actor John Cho said in a new interview that the subject of Sulu’s sexuality is handled in the best possible taste in “Star Trek Beyond.” 

The 44-year-old told The A.V. Club Tuesday that he had a number of pressing concerns about the decision to depict Sulu as a father in a same-sex relationship in the new movie, which hits theaters July 22. 

“I was concerned that Asians and Asian Americans might see it as a sort of continuing feminization of Asian men,” Cho said. “Asian American men, Asian men have been basically eunuchs in American cinema and television, and I thought maybe it would be seen as a continuation of that.”

Cho said he was worried that Takei, who originated the role of Sulu 50 years ago, would object to the character being in a same-sex relationship in the new film because “he couldn’t come out [earlier] and that he had crafted a straight character.” 

“Now, because he’s an activist and he’s out of the closet ― clearly, this is an homage a little bit to him,” he said. “[I worried] he would object to us taking that from his life and say, ‘Hey, I was a gay actor who created a straight character, and now you’re making him gay because I’ve come out of the closet?’ that we were just seeing him for his sexual orientation.”

For the record, Takei told The Hollywood Reporter July 7 that while he was “delighted” by the decision to include a gay character in the “Star Trek” canon, he felt that the decision to have Sulu in a same-sex relationship was a “twisting” of what series creator Gene Roddenberry intended. 

The 79-year-old actor said he asked Cho to persuade “Star Trek Beyond” screenwriter Simon Pegg, who also plays Scotty in the film, and director Justin Lin to create an entirely new character who would identify as gay instead, but that those pleas went unheeded.  

Still, Cho said he feels Takei, as well as devoted “Star Trek” fans, will be pleased with Sulu’s journey in the movie. “We’re executing Roddenberry’s intent, I think: infinite diversity in infinite combinations,” he told The A.V. Club. 

To ensure that, Cho said one of his personal stipulations was to have Sulu’s husband be played by another Asian actor. (The part went to co-writer Doug Jung) 

“When I thought about it, I wanted two things: I wanted the parents to look as traditional as possible. And because he was gay, the Asian and Asian thing would ironically be super radical,” he told the Associated Press. “I always felt it was harder being gay and Asian than any other combination. I thought the cultural stigma was the thickest on the Asian boys I knew. It would be appropriate that in the future it would look very much like what we tend to see in heterosexual families.”

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Another day, another fast fashion empire being accused of stealing artwork.

Tuesday Bassen, a Los Angeles-based illustrator responsible for a slew of adorable clothing, stickers, pins and more, is speaking out against Zara for allegedly copying four of her designs from their clothing without crediting or compensating her for the work.

Bassen, who told The Huffington Post she first noticed the copies in early 2016 “when hundreds of fans reached out to me privately to ask if I was working with them or if there were plagiarizing my work,” joins a long list of artists who have taken a stand against fast fashion brands in the name of their livelihood. What makes this instance different, however, is the alleged response provided to Bassen from Zara’s lawyers.

“Their lawyers claim that my work is both ‘too simple’ to defend, and that I have no base because I am a small artist with 90,000 followers on Instagram while they are a major corporation with 90 million people, so only ‘a handful of people’ would notice the designs are mine,” she said. 

The alleged response, which states that Bassen’s artwork has a “lack of distinctiveness” and that despite complaints, Zara’s 98 million average monthly visitors “clearly put those few notifications into sharp perspective,” is, according to Bassen, the brand’s way of “trying to belittle and bully me.”

Bassen also took to Instagram to show her followers the brand’s response, calling the experience “super disheartening”and pledging to The Huffington Post that she plans to “pursue this further.” Having paid $2,000 simply to have a lawyer send the brand a letter in the first place, she told HuffPost she hopes she can “raise awareness for how often this happens, and how few artists can afford to pursue it.”

The post, which has garnered over 13,000 likes and nearly 3,000 comments so far, certainly appears to have struck a chord with fellow artists and supporters alike.

Zara did not immediately return a request for comment, however the sheer awareness is hopefully a step toward some kind of change and perhaps even a response from the brand itself. 

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When the third season of “Black-ish” arrives, the Johnson family will expand.

Fresh from the Broadway smash “Hamilton,” Daveed Diggs will have a major Season 3 arc as Rainbow Johnson’s brother, Johan, Variety can exclusively reveal. 

Bow (Tracee Ellis Ross) and Johan, whose mother is a very laid-back, hippie-ish soul, had very different childhoods than Dre, and that’s partly why Johan will be a frequent thorn in Dre’s side. Dre Johnson (Anthony Anderson) has always feared that his kids will grow up to be overly pampered, and it sounds like Johan is the personification of those fears.

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Kirsten Dunst has been tapped to direct a film adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s classic 1963 novel The Bell Jar, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The “Fargo” actress will also reportedly co-write the project with Nellie Kim. 

Dakota Fanning is set to play Ester Greenwood, a young woman who lands a summer internship at a prestigious New York magazine and later falls into a deep depression. 

This is the second film adaptation of Plath’s most beloved work. A version starring Marilyn Hasset as Greenwood was released to middling reviews in 1979. 

Dunst made her directorial debut in 2010 with the short film “Bastard,” but “The Bell Jar” marks her first foray into directing feature films. 

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Archaeologists exploring a remote Caribbean island near Puerto Rico have returned with photos capturing never-before-seen cave drawings ― ones said to reveal a previously untold relationship between the indigenous people and European explorers.

In a series of photos, published this week in the journal Antiquity, limestone walls of caves on the Isla Mona, also known as Mona Island, are seen covered with inscriptions ranging from indigenous stick figures to Christian symbols.

“There is no other cave like this in the Caribbean that has been discovered until now,” Dr. Alice Samson of the University of Leicester, who co-authored the report with a team of researchers, told The Huffington Post of their exploration. “These are definitely the earliest inscriptions commenting on indigenous religion.”

The researchers estimate that many of the markings are from hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago. And the researchers point out that the newer markings, dated the 16th century, appear to have been placed in a way that wouldn’t ruin what was already there. 

“The Europeans were not destroying the inscriptions,” Dr. Jago Cooper, curator of the Americas at the British Museum who led the research team with Samson, told HuffPost.

Instead, Cooper described the colonists as having placed their markings around those of the indigenous people “in a respectful kind of way — opposite of them or above them.”

In one such area of the cave, for example, a Christian cross is seen placed directly across from an indigenous artist’s human figure.

Europeans also preserved another area of the cave featuring indigenous finger engravings, called finger-fluting. Samson suggested that a Christian phrase written in Latin and carved near the engravings was placed there to compliment or add to the previous artists’ work.

The phrases detailed in their report included “dios te perdone,” which translates to “God forgive you,” and “Plura fecit deus,” which translates to “God made many things.”

Samson noted that the research team spent hours debating the exact meaning and intentions of the inscriptions.

“You could interpret it from so many different ways,” she said.

Ultimately, Cooper believes that the Europeans’ Christian messages honor the islanders and indicate that they accepted them as their equals.

“It’s saying that the indigenous people are God’s people,” he said.

The lack of desecration by the Europeans is particularly noteworthy, the researchers point out, as religious intolerance and cultural destruction was common. 

Samson believes the explorers weren’t missionaries, but traders, merchants and sailors.

“They’re just regular people,” she said. “Rather than their primary motivation being a religious motive, which happened later … I think it’s a different demographic coming to the Caribbean and I think that’s why they’re a little more open.”

Researchers believe that when the Europeans arrived on the island, indigenous people led them to the cave. The researchers think the cave was considered a religious place, in part because of its fresh water source.

There, they added to the cave’s many drawings and some people even inscribed their names.

One such name found was that of Captain Francisco Alegre, who emigrated to the island from Spain in the 1530s. He later settled in nearby San Juan and oversaw the royal estates, which included Isla Mona, according to the researchers’ report.

The researchers estimate the island has around 200 caves, many of which have never been explored in the modern age.

Today, Isla Mona remains inaccessible to most people, as visitors require a permit and it takes three to four hours to reach it by boat.

For the drawings’ preservation, that’s a good thing.

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People go to music festivals for a lot of reasons: to see their favorite bands, to spice up their Instagram feed, to sweatily camp out under the stars. But a group of volunteers came to the recent Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Tennessee for a fairly unique reason: to save uneaten food from being thrown out and sent to landfills.

A group of 300 volunteers managed by Clean Vibes, a waste management company that works with dozens of music festivals to make them more environmentally friendly, spent the four days of the June festival helping to compost 230,000 pounds of food that was left over from caterers or that vendors were unable to sell. The volunteers received free tickets in exchange for their work.

In addition to the volunteering help, Bonnaroo’s own management team works with the festival’s in-house catering and food vendors to recover uneaten food instead of lumping it in with the rest of the event’s trash. Last year, it recovered and donated 29,183 pounds of food. 

These efforts are in step with other major music festivals, which have made major strides in the past decade to minimize food waste at every level ― from managers to local community partners to individual festivalgoers.

A Sea Change

Clean Vibes used to have to convince festivals to try its services, but in the past decade, festivals have come to the company demanding waste management programs, according to owner Anna Borofsky. 

“People used to think of us as tree-huggers when I founded Clean Vibes in 2000,” Borofsky told The Huffington Post. “But there was a sea change around 2006 when recycling and sustainability suddenly became mainstream.” 

Food waste is the world’s third largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions ― behind the United States and China. When discarded food rots in a landfill, it releases methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Properly tended compost, by contrast, doesn’t release methane, though it does emit carbon dioxide, a less potent pollutant.

It seems like every major festival in the past year has had a thoughtful program around waste management: Glastonbury, Outside Lands, Coachella, Electric Forest. 

This may stem from the fact that music festivals are big businesses. In 2014, 32 million Americans went to at least one music festival, according to Nielsen. These events are a particularly big hit with millennials, who are known to be environmentally conscious. 

“Recycling and sustainable waste management are absolutely consumer-demanded services,” said Borofsky. “Festivalgoers want to feel like these events align with their values.”

Food Vendors And Food Waste

“There’s a lot of trash at music festivals,” Tucker Gumber, a festival aficionado known as the “Festival Guy,” told HuffPost. “But not as much food waste as you may think.” This, he says, is because most festivals are supplied by food trucks, which are extremely resource-conscious by nature. 

“For a food truck, wasting food is wasting profits,” Gumber said.

“When we’re cooking in a field, we budget every single supply and ingredient very closely,” Matt Shapiro, the owner of Peace Love Tacos, told HuffPost. His company served 25 music festivals in 2015 and will have served 17 by the end of 2016.

“Plus, food is relatively expensive within a festival, so people tend to clean their plates, in my experience,” said Shapiro. 

Shapiro added that his company’s sustainability priorities have actually progressed beyond wasted food ― it’s trying to make its plates and utensils biodegradable. 

“The key to successful food waste management is to make sure all the vendors’ materials, from utensils to napkins, are biodegradable and fall within EPA guidelines for composting,” said Borofsky. 

The same principle holds at Outside Lands Music Festival in San Francisco, which uses only compostable or biodegradable utensils and food containers, according to Rolling Stone.

It’s not just American festivals that are being proactive about food waste.

At Norway’s Øya festival, which takes place every August, there is a longstanding environmental component and, in 2016, a particular focus on the issue of food waste.

In recent years, Øya’s food surplus was donated ― all of its biodegradable waste was converted into biofuel, over 8 tons in 2015. This year, the festival is finding even more uses for its food waste: It will compost some of it, and donate leftover coffee grinds to a local business that will make them into bars of soap. 

The biggest challenge to preventing food waste in the first place, according to Borofsky, comes from the uncertainty as to how many people will be at a particular event.

“You basically have to over-prepare,” she said. “Because running out of food while people are trapped on festival grounds would be horrible.”

She had no immediate solutions to this problem, which is fundamental to event catering, but suggested that a diverse array of food recovery programs ― donating leftovers, composting some waste, converting other waste into biofuel ― would help mitigate its impact.

Leaving No Trace

The ultimate in festival waste management is probably seen at Burning Man, the annual gathering in the Nevada desert that takes place in a temporary city, which is completely dismantled at the event’s conclusion, leaving the desert essentially how it looked before.

Similarly, Tucker Gumber (the Festival Guy) is trying to encourage more personal accountability at music festivals, a philosophy he’s dubbed “Leave No Trace +1.”

“Basically,” Gumber explained, “the idea is, pick up after yourself at a festival and then pick up after at least one other person who isn’t as responsible as you.” He said that this could be extended to food waste by consuming food consciously and disposing of it properly, and then making sure a friend does the same.

“As much as festivals are stepping up with regards to composting and recycling, the truth is, the actual waste receptacles can be hard to find,” said Gumber. He noted that it takes an extra moment of intention ― particularly in the substance-influenced state of many festivalgoers ― to make sure you eat responsibly.

Another step that festivals are starting to take toward the Burning Man ideal is managing their food waste on-site, instead of resorting to external facilities. Bonnaroo is a leader on this front: The festival owns much of its Tennessee campgrounds, so it is able to compost much of its food waste onsite immediately after the festival.

Despite all these efforts, festivalgoers still say that waste is a pervasive and visual problem, particularly toward the end of an event.

“I know they are taking steps to reduce waste but I went to Governor’s Ball [in New York City] this year and it was honestly pretty disgusting,” Lauren Singer, of the anti-waste blog Trash is for Tossers, told HuffPost. Singer lives what she calls a zero-waste lifestyle, which means she aims to produce almost no trash. 

Singer’s solution to festival food waste, much like Gumber’s philosophy, is to focus on personal accountability. She had a raft of suggestions for festivalgoers who want to minimize their food and food-related waste. Here are a few of her tips:

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  Bring your own sustainably packaged snacks.

  
  


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  Bring your own reusable utensils.

  
  


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  Carry a stainless steel bottle for water and a glass mason jar for beer.

  
  


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  Forgo straws altogether. (”Most people know how to drink without one,” she cracked.)

  
  


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  Educate yourself on the festival’s waste management policy before attending.

  
  

“Ultimately,” she said, “I do think the responsibility falls on us at these festivals.”

More stories like this:

• We Waste An Insane Amount Of Food. Here’s What You Can Do About It.


• This Walmart Worker Threw Away Food On The Job, Then Went Home Hungry


• A Whole New Kind Of Grocery Store Is Coming To The U.S.


• This Guy Spends $2.75 A Year On Food And Eats Like A King


• I Ate Expired Food For A Week And Didn’t Die


• The Food Your Grocery Store Doesn’t Want You To See

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A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.
attributed to Ernest Hemingway

Only one author in America is known for his sparse prose, Nobel-Prize-winning work, long-held spot in the Western canon and ... the generations of six-toed cats living in his former home on the southernmost spot of Florida. Yes, Ernest Hemingway’s legacy includes a bevy of polydactyl (read: having more toes than average) felines who roam around the Key West home the author lived in from 1931-40. 

Looking at photos of the house, one can almost hear the creaking of the wood floors and the click-clack of Hemingway’s typewriter (which one among his reported Royal, Underwood and Corona models is up to your imagination) and feel the muggy Florida heat. What visitors don’t have to imagine are the cats that lived with Hemingway on this property: They’re still there, and all are said to have descended from one original polydactyl. 

Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum curator Dave Gonzalez told The Huffington Post that a local captain — “respected as the very best shipwreck and salvage captain on the east coast” — who liked to chat with Hemingway on the nearby docks gave the author a kitten from his six-toed cat named Snowball. The female cat’s name? Snowball Jr. 

A 2012 New York Times article mentioned that to sailors, many-toed cats bring extra luck, which is much-needed for those on the sea. Many of the cats mentioned in the article have famous names: Clark Gable, Marlene Dietrich, and Humphrey Bogart, among others. 

Gonzalez said that the cats, which are only allowed to openly roam the grounds during operating hours, have some favorite spots: the bed in the house’s master bedroom and the living room sofa. “Today, they are the true residents of the Hemingway Home,” he wrote in an email. 

In honor of Hemingway’s 117th birthday on July 21, please enjoy these irresistible photos of fuzzy cat toes, accompanied by some choice quotes from the author himself. When you’re done, why not make a cocktail and pick up your high school copy of The Old Man and the Sea or the travel-worn A Moveable Feast that accompanied you on your trip to Paris? Papa would approve.  

No animal has more liberty than the cat, but it buries the mess it makes. The cat is the best anarchist.
"For Whom the Bell Tolls," Ernest Hemingway

One cat just leads to another.
Ernest Hemingway, letter from Finca Vigia, Cuba, to his first wife, Elizabeth Hadley Richardson (1943)

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Yayoi Kusama has created a dreamy illustrated version of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, bringing the dark fairy tale to life through her signature breed of dizzying black-and-white abstractions. And, of course, lots and lots and lots of polka dots. 

If you’re not familiar with the original story of The Little Mermaid, the one written by Andersen in 1837, be warned: it’s a bit darker than you might expect.

The tale starts off with a mermaid desperate to walk on land who falls madly in love with a handsome prince after rescuing him from nearly drowning. She strikes up a bargain with a sea witch, who gives the mermaid legs in exchange for her tongue and voice. The deal is: If the prince falls in love with the mermaid, she will absorb part of his soul and the two will live happily ever after. If not, she will die of a broken heart and dissolve into the sea. 

When the prince sees the mermaid, he’s immediately enamored of her beauty and dancing skills. However, he eventually marries another princess, believing her to be the one who saved him from a watery grave. The mermaid, on the verge of death, then learns if she stabs the prince and lets his blood spill on her feet, she’ll return safely to the sea as a mermaid once again. But, overcome with love for him, she cannot, and chooses death. When she dies, the mermaid dissipates into oceanic foam, transcending the earthly world as a “daughter of the air.” 

The macabre tale ends with an individual surrendering herself to merge with the infinite expanse of the sea and sky, echoing the spirit of iconic Japanese contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama, who has devoted her life’s work to illustrating this very phenomenon. 

Since she was 10 years old, the now 87-year-old artist has created wild visions teeming with polka dots. For the artist, these dots represent the individual and the whole, a single person and the entire universe, the sun and the moon, atoms and molecules.

”A polka dot has the form of the sun, which is a symbol of the energy of the whole world and our living life, and also the form of the moon, which is calm,” the artist wrote in her book Manhattan Suicide Addict. “Round, soft, colorful, senseless and unknowing. Polka dots become movement ... Polka dots are a way to infinity.”

Through her dotty paintings and immersive, sculptural installations, Kusama invites viewers to follow the way of the polka dot, obliterating ourselves to become part of infinity’s seething fabric. “Polka dots can’t stay alone,” the artist famously said. “When we obliterate nature and our bodies with polka dots, we become part of the unity of our environments.”

Andersen’s tale is the perfect springboard for Kusama’s fantastical imagery, which features women’s silhouettes abstracted into spindly tessellations that seem to proliferate all on their own. At once whimsical and foreboding, the images perfectly capture the twisted imagination of The Little Mermaid’s writer. 

When asked by the Louisiana Museum of Art, who published the book, what Hans Christian Andersen means to her, Kusama answered: “A dream of my heart.” She then described the book’s personal significance in a truly Kusama-esque way. “I want to be a mermaid. I set all of my hopes for future on mermaid, which is a symbol of all the good hearts and love.”

If anyone has achieved mermaid status in her lifetimes, Ms. Kusama, it is you. 

The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen & Yayoi Kusama: A Fairy Tale of Infinity and Love Forever will be available for purchase July 26, 2016, from the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.

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Print book lovers have a hard time letting go of their hardcovers for many reasons, but one oft-cited point is that books are just too beautiful ― and shelves full of your favorite reads can’t be beat as decor. But, then again, why stop there?

Pippa Branham, a DIYer and reader from Liverpool who recently moved with her husband and young daughter into their first permanent home, escalated books-as-decor to another level by painting the staircase to resemble the spines of her and her husband’s favorite books.

Branham told BuzzFeed that she was inspired by a photo she saw on Pinterest, but that there were no instructions; instead, she had to use her own crafter’s ingenuity to make the project work. To keep the paint from being too slippery to safely walk on, she settled on “mixing a small amount of children’s play sand in with the paint,” and she sealed the stairs with a clear varnish spray to prevent wear and tear.

Safe to say that most of us don’t have the steady hands or the patience to attempt Branham’s project, which she told BuzzFeed took 35 hours to complete. But we can enjoy the photos she shared of her finished project, which looks like a TBR pile we’d like to have on our bedside tables: J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones, and more fantastical favorites. In an email to HuffPost, she wrote that there were “so many” books she would have added to the list, if the staircase had more steps. A couple top candidates: “Clive Barker’s Weaveworld and Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.”

Branham told HuffPost that she and her husband, Jonathan, had both read all the books, but he had a few specific requests for inclusion: C.S. Lewis’ Space Trilogy, George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones, and Stephen King’s Dark Tower book Wolves of the Calla. 

Branham told HuffPost she picked certain books “based on the fact that I frequently wish I had never read them so I could experience reading them for the first time!” 

Even the specific spines selected, she says, have sentimental value. ““The particular spines were chosen based on the spines which matched the book I had read at the time I read them, rather than just the book covers which are available now,” she said to BuzzFeed. In some cases, that meant tracking down out-of-print covers of books she’s taken out from the library or borrowed. 

Talk about the nostalgic power of a print book. There’s really nothing like it ― except, maybe, a colorful staircase that pays tribute to all your faves.

H/T BuzzFeed

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Summer is a glorious time for kids. The warmer weather and break from school brings possibilities for outdoor play, sports, fun in the water and more.

We’ve rounded up some breathtaking photos of kids enjoying the season around the world, from the U.S. to India to Greenland to Chile. The warm season falls at different times of the year in different parts of the globe (and summer vacation lengths vary), but as these images show, the joy of summertime fun is consistent.

Keep scrolling to see 22 magical photos of pure kid bliss before school starts back again.

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